Next Steps

It is easy to identify between a sprawl region and a smart growth region. The challenge is creating change in a community and generating ideas that are that applicable to the existing undesired conditions of a region or town.


There are four main ways to enhance smart growth across America -


•Tax incentives

• Brownfield redevelopment

• Elimination of sprawl-enhancing subsidies

•Urban growth boundaries

Brown field redevelopment like the one in the picture below from Atlanta Georgia are great ways to make use of land already part of the community and enable communities to become mixed use - having residential and commercial next to each other. 

In this picture the idea is to take an old building along side railroad tracks that are still being used. By putting a light rail track down along the railroad track it allows the people who would visit here not a way to get here as well as a more green way to get around Atlanta. Light rail would also make the area more walkable as the stops would be more frequent and right along the sidewalk which is right up in front of the commercial development. Building here rather than on undeveloped land around the city of Atlanta is not only more environmentally savvy but makes it more assessable to the residents of the city. By using the old building materials are being saved which is also environmentally smart and this old building lends itself nicely to mixed use because shopping can easily be put in place on the bottom part where as businesses and residential can be put on the higher floors.  

Just as the government effectively offered tax incentives to get Americans into neighborhoods outside of the cities the government could offer tax incentives for get people to assimilate in abiding by smart growth regulations. The American people as active voters have the power to create urban growth boundaries that can  halt urban sprawl and keep communities focused on smart growth.  The American people also need to be more aware of political leaders who support sprawl enhancing subsidies to put a stop to them.